Moving ahead in spite of labor shortage

[KariStones]

According to the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) paper on Housing in the Eighth Plan, and its employment potential, the investment needed for housing development has been estimated to be around Rs.51,576 crore. The backlog of housing shortage at the beginning of the Eighth Plan has been estimated to be 24.7 million units in both the urban and rural areas.

The study estimated employment potential for 289 persons for investment of every one crore rupees on housing projects. Furthermore, it says that, the promotion of housing construction would require among other things a good housing finance system, for which much is needed to be done even though the government has established the National Housing Bank and is going to introduce the Home Loan Account Scheme.

Real estate development is a labor-intensive process. In spite of the mechanization in the building construction sector, human labor is still needed to speed up the construction process. Robots have not taken up even a fraction of the construction work in the state. In countries like Japan some companies have made efforts to introduce robots to do the construction work faster than human beings.

When considering the present developments in Real Estate Kerala state has been able to achieve much progress mainly due to the phenomenal inflow of labor from other parts of the country. Every incoming train from the north is full of skilled and unskilled laborers trying to eke out a living in this high wage construction sector. The laborers from West Bengal and Chattisgarh earn more than double they are able to get for a day’s work at a construction site in their home town. Not only that, their productivity is also on the higher side.